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Five months ago my friends from college wanted to do a girls night with dinner at the new and popular chicken and waffle spot in Long Island City called Sweet Chick. Personally I have heard how popular this place was in Brooklyn, but the one in Long Island City was said to be bigger and more accommodating than its original location. They are also two additional locations, one in Brooklyn and the other in the Lower East Side in Manhattan.

When my friend contacted me on Saturday afternoon, she informed me that this restaurant did not accept reservations and it was walk in only. Given my knowledge of this franchise’s popularity, I decided to take a cab to the restaurant. I was glad I did because the nearest train station was closed for routine weekend repairs. When I approached the restaurant, there was a line going out the door of people putting their names down on the wait list. As I got closer to the host inside the restaurant, the host was telling each person on line that the wait was two hours. When I heard that the wait time was two hours, most people walked out, but I stayed so I can talk to the host and even the manager about wait time, when the restaurant did not appear crowded. Anyways, I put my name down and the host stated that they would try to reduce my wait time and as more and more people decided to leave, my wait time was reduced to 30 minutes. Thirty minutes was definitely better than two hours. By the time, my friends arrived and we were finally seated. To start, I ordered the Pink Noise cocktail ($12). The cocktail tasted really good (flavors were well balanced), but strong (there were two maybe three different liquors in this cocktail) and I was buzzed throughout the night despite consumption of the fried chicken and waffles.

For the table we ordered the Crawfish Hush Puppies ($11). The hush puppies were greasy. The hush puppies also contained corn, which enhanced the texture. I loved the jalapeno jam because it complemented the saltiness of the hush puppy. If you don’t want to feel that you’re eating greasy fried fish fritters, the remoulade sauce was a great addition if you want to mask the oily exterior while embracing the crawfish flavor inside.

Crawfish Hush Puppies – Remoulade Sauce, Jalapeno Jam

For those who can’t eat seafood, there are the pork belly nuggets ($10), but personally it was too small of a portion for the price. It was also forgettable. Personally it was a failed attempt to create a balanced dish of a sweet marinated pork belly with a pickled fruit and the acidic kimchi.

We ordered three different chicken and waffles dishes ($19 each); all look really good and interesting. In addition, you can even design your own chicken and waffles meals.

Nashville Fried Chicken Waffle – my friend ordered this meal because it was one if not the spiciest meal in the menu. My friends like their meal, I took a bite of the chicken and it was packed with Southern flavors and spice. If you like hot and spicy, this is a choice you won’t regret.

Buffalo Fried Chicken Waffle – my friend ordered this meal and tasting a piece of that buffalo fried chicken, it definitely lived up to its name. What I mean is that this was definitely a chicken and waffles version of Buffalo Fried Chicken. It is a twist from a classic that will leave you satisfied.

Fried Chicken Parmesan – I am a sucker for cheese so when I saw fresh mozzarella on top of a fried chicken served on a little cast iron plate with tomato sauce, it was over. The mozzarella, basil and parmesan waffle complemented the tomato sauce.

Overall the fried chicken was properly battered and the texture of each bite from three different dishes was very consistent. Plus, the dish helped alleviate the alcohol buzz from the Pink Noise.

To end our evening of awesome comfort food, we ordered the entire desserts menu. All the desserts were to die for. If you want to go towards the healthy route, stick with the blueberry cobbler. Personally I would choose the Daily Special Donut Ice Cream Sandwich, which was amazing.

I realized why service was slow throughout the evening because the chef was ensuring that every dish that came out of that kitchen was up to par and all of our orders did not disappoint.

After sharing this information here on my blog, I am craving chicken and waffles. I definitely want to check out the other locations especially the one in the Lower East Side.

TGIF — It’s Flashback Friday and it’s been over six weeks since I’ve last posted here. Well, it’s restaurant week again and we are entering the last seven days of this high end eating on a budget event. This year’s restaurant week started on July 23 and ends next Friday, August 17.

Did you know that NYC restaurant week started 26 years ago to welcome the Democratic National Convention (DNC)? We all know who won the election. Anyways, back to food, NYC restaurant week started with 95 participating restaurants in 1992 to approximately quadrupling to 380 in 2018. This season, few restaurants in Brooklyn, Queens and even Staten Island are jumping on the bandwagon for this budget friendly opportunity. This season was disappointing because lunch/brunch meals are only two courses (appetizer with entree or dessert) for $26 and a three course dinner remains at $42.

After 3 weeks of thorough review of 317 menus out of the 380 restaurants, here are the logistics that are broken down into: best lunch, dinner and brunch for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5+ people. Our criteria is comparing what the restaurant is offering for restaurant week to their daily lunch/dinner/brunch menu; for example, if crudo is part of the regular lunch appetizer menu, we want to see if the restaurant is serving the same item on their restaurant week menu. Some restaurants are even offering parts of their regular as part of restaurant week, which is a great way to go.

We will begin with the total number of restaurants that are offering the best value meals for lunch, dinner and brunch based on our criteria.

Personally one of the reasons why I have yet to participate in this year’s restaurant week is because I am on a diet, which I will disclose at some point this weekend. Therefore, we created another table that breaks down the overall number of best value meals to accommodate the vegetarians, pescatarians, people in low carb diets (that’s me) and comfort (those who want to YOLO)!

Even though I am on a diet, I do plan to take advantage of restaurant week, which is easier said than done because there is no control of how the food is made. However, with the comfort meal types, the appetizers are either on the vegetarian, pescatarian and low carb side. The hard part is dessert, which in case, lunch is ideal, but due to my full time job, I can’t take advantage of the lunch offerings this season.

In the past, I have shared my experiences of eating at restaurants for restaurant week and if you need any ideas or suggestions, below is the list of places I have eaten at for past restaurant weeks:

Capital Grille at all three New York City locations (Grand Central, West 50s and wall Street) their 14 ounce bone-in dry aged sirloin steak is still being offered for this restaurant week. In addition from now until September 2, Capital Grille is also offering what they call a “Generous Pour”, which costs only $28 for a tasting of seven wines with the purchase of dinner. The suggestion for this restaurant week:

Fonda (Comfort Food) in the East Village has awesome happy hour specials, but for restaurant week it’s a good way to get four friends to get together for drinks and happy times. Check out my post on what the guacamole, enchilada suizas and dessert (morenitas).

Blenheim (Comfort Food) a Michelin rated restaurant offers a stipulation from my experience eating here two years ago. The menu changes frequently for the season, which makes it exciting. This season, a solo dinner is the way to go with the following: Fried Chicken, Pork two ways and Chocolate cremeux.

Tavern 62 by David Burke (Comfort Food) located at the beginning of the Upper East Side is one of the few restaurants that are utilizing their regular menu have new customers try their food and feel that they belong. They have great happy hour specials, where there are $10 burgers and $8 fries. Check out the pictures and previous write up about the transition from Fishtail to Tavern62 by clicking on the “Tavern 62 by David Burke” link. I do plan on returning to this restaurant because I feel welcomed but more importantly it’s a great deal for restaurant week and the customer will get their money’s worth.

In addition, offering a great $18 wine pairing deal for restaurant. They are also one of the few restaurants that are offering a three course lunch meal for restaurant week for $26. Plus, they have a great $6 happy hour menu from 4pm to 7pm.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been craving chicken wings. According to the National Chicken Council, fried chicken wings originated in the South a long time ago. However, chicken wings became part of the food menu in 1964 at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y. The popularity of chicken wings grew in the 80s and 90s to the point where it is now considered a staple for get togethers and game day gatherings, but more importantly it’s cost effective.

We recently heard of a chicken wings spot in the Franklin Square neighborhood in Long Island called ATL Wings. ATL stands for “All The Luv” wings. According to their website the wings chain started in 2012. The menu had a variety of sauces and rubs for the wings. I spoke and met with the manager Kisha who was so kind to provide us with her recommendations. We had a variety of flavors to try ranging from not spicy to spicy with fries and honey biscuits on the side.

Here’s our food journey at ATL Wings:

We began our wings consumption journey with the mild garlic parmesan chicken wings. These wings had a lot of garlic and parmesan flavor and the taste was well balanced. I’d ordered them again.

Garlic Parmesan Dry Rub Wings

Next, we proceeded to the lemon pepper wings, which were considered popular among customers. I can see why! It’s the balance of the crispy wings with tartness of the lemon with a pinch of pepper that pop when I bite into it.

Lemon Pepper Dry Rub Wings

Then we moved on to the BBQ Wings starting with the sweet teriyaki wings. The wings were good and sweet, but it was not as exciting as the previous dry rub wings consumed.

Teriyaki BBQ Wings

Next we moved on to the spicy BBQ wings, which were the Honey Habenero wings. These wings were really good. The sauce was well balanced between the sweetness of the honey and the spiciness of the habenero pepper.

Honey Habenero BBQ Wings

Finally, we hit a crescendo with the Extreme Honey Habenero wings. These wings were good but spicy. The initial bite had the same well balanced taste and texture between the sweetness of the honey and the spiciness of the habenero pepper. After consuming three wings the spiciness dominated over taste, which was a turn off.

Extreme Honey Habenero BBQ Wings

To counterbalance the overpowering heat consumed from the extreme habenero wings, we ate the french fries. Although the fries could have been crisper, it helped a lot as the well balanced taste of oil and potato helped with reducing the heat from the wings.

Side of French Fries

Finally we hit dessert with the honey biscuit that hit the spot and almost eliminated the heat from the extreme honey habenero wings. This biscuit was definitely made with love – cinnamon, powdered sugar and honey.

Honey Biscuits

The food experience at ATL Wings was overall awesome and the staff was very accommodating. Their food was definitely made with love.

Our favorites were the garlic parmesan, honey habenero and the honey biscuit.

I would definitely return and take advantage of their Tuesday special – 75 cents wings.

Last weekend we have had the privilege to be invited by Japion to attend ChopsticksNY “Eat Up Drink Up Japan”.

We attended the Dinner Session. Upon arrival, we were given a card containing circles each representing each of the six regions. What I loved about this setup is that every attendee would have the opportunity to taste every dish as long as they present the card to the server at each station to be stamped. Once the card is stamped, a sample of each of the three dishes are served with a sake pairing of your choice or even try more sake.

The event setup was well thought out where the attendee could feel that they are going on a food and drink journey through Japan.

Our food journey began with dishes from Northeastern Japan – Hokkaido & Tohoku. This region is known for their seafood. Food samples paired with Gasaryu Kisaragi sake included:

Salmon Teman-zushi – Favorite

Dashi Dofu (tofu) – vegetarian

Beef Tongue Roast

The second region we visited is the populated multicultural region of Kanto. Food samples paired with Tsukinoi Taiyori Ginjo sake included:

Peanut Miso atop Cucumber – vegetarian and favorite

Utsumomiya Gyoza (pan fried dumpling)

Deep fried monkfish

We then traveled to Central Japan to experience the food and sake from the Chubu/Tokai region. We decided to pair our food samples with Kubota Junmai Daiginjo sake.

Sasa-Zushi (Favorite) – Rice is amazing

Nagoya Tebasaki (fried chicken wings)

Simmered Daikon with Yuzu Miso Sauce (vegetarian)

Finishing halfway through the food and sake journey, we moved on to the region called Kinki is considered the ancient capital of Japan. This region’s food also caters to the noble class. We paired our food samples with our favorite sake of the night: Umeoyado Yuzo Shu.

Finally the sixth and final region is Kyushu located in southern Japan. The food presented is more common in most Japanese restaurants here. We paired our food with the sake Yatsushika Tokubetsu Junmai.

Roasted Wagyu Beef (favorite)

Pork Kaku-ni

Gane – vegetarian

After our six region meal, we visited the VIP section and tasted the “higher end” sake, which is unfiltered sake from the Daiginjo Counter. The sake was served by sake sommelier Toshiyuki Koizumi of Wasan Brooklyn.

The sake was definitely more refined and strong so the night end with consumption of three different degrees of matcha from Ippodo Tea Company and mochi ice cream.

One of the popular festivities celebrated in New York is the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy. This festival last 10 days, this year the festival started from 9/14 thru 9/24. The festival is held along Mulberry Street. The street is so packed to the point of claustrophobia and it can be worse than rush hour.

There were a variety of food items such as sausage and peppers, pastries, pina coladas, seafood, fried oreos etc. to purchase but they are overpriced. Personally I’ve avoided eating food from the vendors. Therefore I prefer eating at one of my favorite spots:

Da Nico Ristorante (164 Mulberry Street) is a local favorite in Little Italy and it has a garden. But with the humidity and hot weather we decided to stay indoors.

We went on a Friday night and we walked in and were seated immediately. I’ve eaten here several times for lunch and was never disappointed. The place as I recalled was known for their meat dishes. Portions of each dish were perfect where there were no leftovers. Service was overall great and very accommodating given the busy atmosphere. I definitely want to return here for lunch and eat at the garden.

Here are the dishes that were ordered:

Appetizer: Mozzarella In Carrozza $13. This dish is coated in different kinds of flour and breading. The texture was light not greasy. The sauce was so good. Unfortunately, was hoping for more slices.

Entrees: Both entrees came with sides of vegetables and a rice ball. Vegetables were good, the rice ball, not so much. A side of penne alla vodka was also ordered, however, there were better versions.

The star main entrees overall were amazing, the taste and texture remained the same after 13 years.

Happy Thursday so as promised and better late than never I will be posting my dining experience from NYC restaurant week. Although it was painful to see the $4 price hike on a prix fixe meal, I want to get my money’s worth eating a restaurant with a reputation e.g. Zagat rated, Michelin starred. In my previous post categorizing where I would eat while getting my money’s worth plus collecting bonus OpenTable points.

Well guess what, I did not include a farm to table Michelin rated restaurant called Blenheim. The reason why this restaurant was not on my list of restaurants to eat during restaurant week was that their menu was not yet posted on their website or NYC.go’s site. Anyways, the ambiance and West Village location, the restaurant was cozy, local and low key.

Unfortunately I missed the happy hour special, which ends at 6pm but very excited to indulge in their summer cocktail that contains a hashtag called “#WildWestVillage. This cocktail consists of watermelon, tequila, honey and berry. At at splurge of this $16 cocktail, one drink was definitely enough but more importantly it was very refreshing.

Two of my girlfriends joined me in this restaurant week experience. The restaurant week menu and the regular menu were given with instructions. If we wanted to order from the restaurant week menu, the whole table had to participate, which we all did. Now in hindsight, service treatment was biased because we felt that we were not treated as regular customers. For example, bread was served to us but in a smaller plate compared with the rest of the customers. My friend actually called it out where our server heard it and the host had to “clean up the mess”. Anyways, back to the food, the food served during restaurant week was in small portions compared to their a la carte menu. However the quality of food did not disappoint. For appetizers, I ordered the poached egg served with beans and asparagus. My friend ordered the chilled soup and my order friend got the salad. I had a tasting of all three dishes and they were all good, but my favorite of the three was the poached egg with asparagus and bean. The presentation was natural and pretty, but more importantly the flavors were perfectly balanced.

Salad

Poached egg with asparagus

Chilled soup

One of the major reasons why I wanted to eat here was their english pea agnolotti and was so glad it was part of their restaurant week menu. In addition to the agnolotti my two other friends ordered the roast chicken and fish dishes. Portion wise, the agnolotti and chicken entrees had one of the smallest, the best entree buy was the fish. I loved the agnolotti entree and enjoyed tasting the freshness of the roast chicken and fish entrees.

English Pea Agnolotti

Fish and couscous

Roast chicken

Blenheim’s restaurant week menu dessert did not have many options so we went with the waitress’s suggestion of the honey semifreddo and the suggestion was spot on. The portion size of this dish was also good. The semifreddo and the fresh wholeness of the berries with honey was a great end to the meal.

I would actually return to the restaurant just to have another order of the agnolotti regardless of the mediocre service. But it would be interesting to actually see whether I would be served differently if I ordered from the regular menu than from the restaurant week menu. Time will only tell…

In the past week or two, I have had this craving of pan fried noodles with some type of gravy sauce. When I was child I was considered a picky eater. My father who is a chef would bring home a variety of dishes and even cook some too. I was told I had expensive food tastes as my two favorites were sharkfin soup and pan fried noodles with beef.

Even though my food palate has evolved over time and I eat everything now, I will always have a love for an order of family style pan fried noodle dish with either beef or seafood during my family outings at a Chinese restaurant.

I went grocery shopping last week and came across a packet of “Hong Kong Style Pan Fried Noodles”. Immediately, I had a huge craving for this dish so I purchased a packet and searched online for the best recipes to replicate the dish in most healthy way possible with the ingredients I have at home. As a result, this recipe is adapted from two recipes that I found made the best pan fried noodles.

During the creation of this dish, my phone decided to not cooperate with me so unfortunately I do not have my usual photo of my ingredient layout. In addition, there is no exact calorie count.

Please note that leftover cooked vegetables (carrots and cabbage) were used in stir fry portion of this dish. This dish serves 2 people.

Unfortunately I do not have the finished product as my phone died and I was hungry. The dish was less starchy and salty compared to what I have eaten at Chinese restaurants. The texture of the dish was pretty close. The dish was cheaper to make than ordering it at the restaurant. Creating this dish was an experience in itself and the techniques used to cook at home versus at a restaurant is different due to space and availability. I definitely want to make this again using different ingredients so stay tuned!

Happy weekend! It has been over a week since I last posted and it was a very overwhelming week. Today, I am introducing a temporary weekly post called Social Saturday where I will be posting an experience attending an event that focuses on restaurants and various types of food. I will begin this post with my first event I have had the privilege to cover, Queens Taste 2016.

On Thursday May, 3 2016, the New York Hall of Science hosted the annual Queens Taste 2016. The event showcased about 50-60 restaurants, products and small businesses. It was ideal for the Queens foodie. The event overall highlighted classic dishes such as hamburgers and root beer floats while celebrating the diverse cuisines from Italian to Caribbean Chinese. Proceeds from the event will support the Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC). QEDC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to “attract, create, and maintain jobs in the borough through business services, neighborhood development, the Entrepreneur Space (our food-and-business incubator), and marketing attractions through the Queens Tourism Council and the It’s in Queens and Discover Queens brands”.

After a conversation with the organizers of the event, they were wondering as to how I will be able to incorporate these sample tastings and promote them as being healthy. So, after sampling some of the food provided I decided to highlight and organize the dish I sampled according to the following:

I know it’s officially no longer Tuesday, but I want to keep my word on posting a dish involving ingredients from the Sunday Game Plan. One of the dishes from the Sunday Game Plan is Chicken Thigh Adobo.

Adobo is a popular dish in the Philippines. Adobo in English means “vinegar braised”. The main marinade of the traditional Filipino adobo dish is soy sauce and vinegar. This dish can be made using any type of meat or even vegetables. Personally the best adobo dish to make is pork belly, but for now, we will use chicken thighs. Chicken thighs is a great piece of meat to cook with because it has all the flavors and juices in it. Plus, it’s definitely healthier than pork belly.

Making this dish brings memories from my grandmother and mother who tried to pass on this family recipe.

Pour marinade on the chicken thighs and let it sit on room temperature for approximately 90 minutes.

Turn the chicken thighs over and let it sit for another 90 minutes.

After 90 minutes, turn on the heat on medium/high and let the mixture boil. After boiling, add as much water to your preference (personally I love the marinade so I add approximately 4-6 cups of water so the mixture won’t be too concentrated). Turn the heat on low, cover the pan and let it simmer for 30 minutes, turning once halfway. After 30 minutes, open the pan and let it cook for another 20 minutes on low heat until the liquid is reduced.

Transfer the chicken thighs on a plate.

Pour the marinade over it. This appears really greasy, but it’s the chicken fat with the marinade ingredients. No oil was added during the entire recipe. Serve with rice.

It’s been a long weekend but very excited to post Tablespoons and Teaspoons’ first Sunday Game Plan for the week. After reviewing various circulars, a budget of $30 was set aside to do some grocery shopping for this week’s meal plan. This meal plan works well with anyone who wants to lose weight and take up “clean” eating. Below is the handwritten version of the game plan which lists recipes that will be prepared and made.

Utilizing the ingredients purchased on a $30 budget, at least 12 healthy cost effective recipes can be created for the week with the high probability of leftovers. In terms of current pantry items the biggest investments were the olive oil, rice, cooking spray and soy sauce, everything else in the pantry was purchased under $3 per item. Current pantry items are separate from the $30 budget grocery shopping.

Can’t wait to put these ingredients into great use and make quick, budget friendly and healthy dishes. Stay tuned!!